Spirited Mom. Spirited Child.

Parenting: The spirited way

About Me

Mama to 2 amazing littles. D is my spirited preschooler and the one who made me a mom. He keeps me on my toes and reminds me that life isn't supposed to be perfect. DD is my baby girl and my hope is to be a good example for her of a strong, confident woman. It's a work in progress.

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Sunday in the Kitchen | Cold Crushing Concentrate

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Hooray for blogging two days in a row!

Almost everyone in my house has been battling a cold since well before Christmas. Since I’m nursing and I try not to give D any medication if I can avoid it, we’ve been doing the usual natural remedies. Humidifier, saline rinses, hot water with lemon and a teaspoon of honey religiously every morning; nothing seems to have helped so far. It’s time to step it up a notch!

I have this friend, Jules. She is one of a kind. As my mother in-law would say, “They don’t make women like that anymore”. If anyone should have a blog, it’s her. She puts me to shame. She is the definition of a wife and mother. She takes care of her boys, cooks practically everything from scratch and she can bake a mean cupcake. I don’t think I have ever seen her wear anything but a dress, and yet she still manages to look like a bad ass.

She was kind enough to share her cold-killing recipe with me and to allow me to share it with you.

Here’s what you will need:

* 5 lemons

* 1 chunk of ginger (if there is a more technical term for this, I don’t know it)

* 1/2 container of honey (I used liquid organic honey, unpasteurized)

The first thing I did was slice up 3 lemons.

For crushed ginger, I used a spoon, first removing the skin (good thing I have Jules on speed dial… I almost used a cheese grater!)

I was unprepared for how time consuming this part would be. I felt as if I was very slowly whittling it down.

The smell is amazing though and makes the whole process worth it.

Once the skin is fully removed, I peeled the ginger directly into a bowl with the sliced up lemons.

Then I squeezed the juice of 2 more lemons over top.

If I could give any advice it would be to do this part first, before your hands are aching! Unless you have one of those hand juicer things, but I don’t. I haven’t been culinary that long.

Add your honey and voila!

I used a small spatula to transfer the mixture into Mason jars. I used 16 oz jars (the kind you would put jam in)

because that’s what I had, but you could use larger ones if you want.

Put it in the fridge to ferment.

When you feel a cold coming on, simply scoop out 1-2 tbsp of the concentrated mixture and add to a mug of hot water.

According to Jules, the longer you leave it in there the more potent it will get.

And that’s all there is to it. It was easy to make (if I can do it, anyone can) and delicious too! These colds don’t stand a chance now. I will keep you posted on the status of our sniffles.